Leni Sinclair

Leni Sinclair fled from communist East Germany when she was 18 years old and made her way to Detroit, Michigan, where she enrolled at Wayne State University.

In 1964, Sinclair co-founded the Detroit Artists Workshop and began photographing avant-garde jazz artists like Cecil Taylor, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, and many others. Leni married fellow student John Sinclair and continued to be heavily involved in the counter culture revolution by photographing bands such as the MC5, Iggy Pop, and the Stooges.

Leni Sinclair helped organize the “Free John Sinclair” concert in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1971, headlined by John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Bob Seger and Stevie Wonder where John Lennon performed his song, “John Sinclair,” about Leni’s husband. Leni Sinclair’s historically iconic photos have appeared in countless newspapers, magazines, books, LP and CD covers.